PHILADELPHIA – There was a feeling around Boston that if the Bruins wanted to get past the Flyers this time around, they would need to bring more than they brought against the Canadiens in the first round. They couldn’t fall behind early on in games. They had to score a power play goal (some were more realistic than others) and they had to have more than just one or two lines operating from game to game. 

Though the power play issues (they are now 0-for-26 since the postseason began) are definitely more alarming from a statistical standpoint, Boston’s search for offensive consistency was something that one would have to figure would play a large role in determining whether the Bruins could compete with Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference semifinals. 

The trio charged with stepping up their game the most the second round? Unfortunately for the Bruins, that would be the first line. Though the lasting images of the Bruins’ first-round epic with the Canadiens were overtime celebrations of Nathan Horton goals from Games 5 and 7, Boston’s top trio showed up on the score sheet far less frequently than its members would have liked. Horton’s three goals in seven games were a welcome sight for a newcomer to the playoffs, but his linemates didn’t fare as well. Milan Lucic, who led the team with 30 goals in the regular season, failed to notch a tally vs. the Habs, while David Krejci finished the first round with just one point. 

Saturday afternoon, Boston’s top line went about improving those numbers in a 7-3 win that featured a mix of solid Boston offense and poor Flyers goaltending. Krejci was the star of the show, leading all skaters with four points (2 G, 2 A) and looking like the guy who picked up 29 points over a 26-game span when Marc Savard went down for the season back in late January. Horton had a goal and an assist and led the Bruins with five shots on goal. All three members of the line finished with plus-3 ratings. 

“The one thing I can tell you is that it was nice to see that line do so well tonight,” Claude Julien said following the win. “They obviously had some challenges in the last series, although two of the overtime goals were scored by that line. Tonight I thought they were a real solid line. They did their job, and they did it well.”

People may not have expected seven goals from the Bruins in Game 1 against the Flyers, but for the top line (who, along with Patrice Bergeron’s line, produced three goals in the win), it was an overdue statement that in a series in which one team is heavily praised for its depth, the B’s can have a couple of top lines clicking as well.

“It gets us going,” Bergeron said of how Krejci’s line can inspire other lines to play at a higher level. “You can see when they're ready to play, the whole team is.  We're trying to all chip in and all help.”

Krejci did more than “chip in,” and he seems to know that the expectations on him are big. Since Savard was shut down for the season and playoffs back on Jan. 22, it has been clear that if there’s one center whose skill and production needed to be a constant force for the B’s, it was him. Through a generally unproductive first round, he insisted that he and his linemates were doing everything but show up on the score sheet, and that things would eventually change. The Bruins needed them to change quickly, and Saturday was a perfect case of “better late than never.”

“For me, I know I didn't produce that much, but I still thought my line played pretty well,” Krejci said Saturday of the first round. “We had so many chances, and we just couldn't bury them. Sometimes that happens.”

Sometimes it does, and sometimes a four-point hour happens. Krejci will gladly take the latter, and given what he’s meant to the Boston-Philadelphia rivalry in the playoffs, improving both his game and his production up could play a major role in the Bruins’ bid to get to the Eastern Conference finals.

It was at Wells Fargo Center that Krejci, who had eight points through the first nine games of the playoffs a season ago, went down with a broken wrist in Game 3 of the conference semifinals. Though the B’s went on to take their now-infamous 3-0 series lead, everyone knows how the series ended. If the B’s can get the Krejci they got Saturday night (which would be a point-a-game player or better against better goaltending than Philadelphia turned in Saturday), it could go a long way in Boston’s bid to keep pace with a deep Flyers team and forget the horror stories of a year ago. 

Krejci took that first step Saturday, and it looked more like a giant leap. Krejci entered the series knowing he was a point-a-game guy against the Flyers last year, but also knowing that he was a seventh-of-a-point-a-game guy in the first round this year. In the end, Krejci’s miniscule numbers over the past two weeks seemed bound to increase at some point.

“He's one of our best players,” Horton said of Krejci. “They key on him. He obviously wasn't on the score sheet, but in the first series, I think he played alright. He didn't get on the score sheet [then], but tonight was a great way to start the second round.”

"The season is a lot of up and down,” Krejci said. “It was a tough series for us, but I think we bounced back and had a good game today, but one game does not make a [successful] playoffs, so we've just got to keep it going."

The Bruins will get their chance to keep it going Monday night in Game 2 of the series. If they have it their way, they'll have their top line playing like a top line once again.